Lesson Three: Dealing With Temptation: James 1:9-18

Notice the two alternate progressions of life that James is describing:

Faith - Trials that test our faith - Perseverence - Maturity (1:2-4)

James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything."

Desire - Temptation - Sin - Death (1:14-15)

14 "but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

We can go from tested faith to maturity, or from indulged desire to death. Each process can be slow or quick, but takes place based on daily choices with seemingly inperceptible consequences at the time. Choices lead to habits, and habits set our character either toward God or against God.

Let's Get the Facts Straight
God is NEVER the source of temptation to evil. He is the source of every good and perfect gift.

James 1:13 "When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ... 16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."

God is the author of truth and light - never darkness.

1 John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."

(Remember: temptations and trials are different. trails are hardships or difficulties that by faith lead to our perseverence. temptations are when we turn away from God and turn to sin by entertaining our sinful desires, which is the opposite of faith.)

The real source of temptations to sin - evil desires from our own hearts.

James 1: 14 "but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged
away and enticed.

The Devil Made Me Do It?
Wait a minute... don't our temptations come from Satan? Satan is certainly a liar, a thief and a murder who wants to deceive God's children. He started doing it back in the very beginning - at the creation of the world (Genesis 3:6-22). His M.O. (modus operandi) is to use something that God originally created as a good desire and to twist it into an idol and abomination from what God said was good and right and noble. We are dragged away when we embrace the lie by following our sinful nature rather than believing what God said.

Father of heavenly lights
God is the father of light. It is fact that He created the sun, moon, stars, and planets. They are splendid works and symbols of His good and perfect nature and His truth and moral purity. "God is light; in Him there is no darkness." Yet, these glittering examples fall short of His perfection, as eclipses and clouds shade their light. But we know that in God "is no variation" and he does not "change like shifting shadows." Stars and moons do change, but the father of heavenly lights is perfect, true, and good -- and He never changes.

A kind of firstfruits
Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, was the true firstfruit of creation who gave Himself up for the forgiveness of our sins. Through Him, we have fellowship with God and are being restored to the image-bearers we were originally created to be - a kind of firstfruits of creation.

James 1:18 "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."

We are born again when we believe the Word of God, and as a result of the belief, we are called to be firstfruits. We are being restored as original image-bearers of our Holy God.

For Thought:
Meditate on what this means to be a kind of firstfruits of all creation. What difference should it make in our daily lives each of us individually and that Chrsitians collectively, as the church, are called 'a kind of firstfruits of all he created?' Ask God to show you how He is leading you to be more like Christ.

PB's 7 practical steps for avoiding temptation

(from my notes on Pastor Betters' sermon series - '4 weeks with God and my neighbor')

1- Commit to memorizing scripture that applies to your situation - it's a spiritual battle!

2- When first tempted, spend time in prayer thanking God for the opportunity to address the sin. Rehearse scripture you have memorized.

3- Reckon yourself dead to sin and set your mind on things above - Colossians 3.

4 - Display your "think and do" list. (Phil. 4:8) (Eph. 4:30-34)

5 - If you are still in the throws of temptation, contact your accountability partner and ask them to pray with you. Ask the church to pray for you.

6- Think Great Commission and be ready to share the Good News of the Gospel with someone. Know the Gospel message - pray to believe it.

7- Before you retire at the end of the evening, do an inventory of your day -- How did I do? What I need to do tomorrow? Commit to that night and the next day to God - Greater is God in Heaven than our sin or the evil one.

Lesson Two: Facing Trials, pt1

Summary of Chapter 2 on Facing Trials, pt1:

James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."

It is not easy being a Christian. For the Christian Jews during the days of James, being a convert to faith in Christ would have been harsh. It seemed scandalous to others that they claimed an executed criminal as the Messiah and many of them were killed and persecuted for their beliefs.

In every age, Christians have faced trials of all kinds for the sake of Christ.
But why would God allow such trials to come to His beloved children?

The Word tells us: because tested faith develops perseverence, which leads us to maturity - it makes us more like Christ.

[Matthew 5:11-12 -Great is our reward in Heaven; Romans 5:3-5 perseverence produces character, which produces hope; Hebrews 2:10 we are made perfect through suffering, etc..]

So... suffering is apparently the way in which God produces maturity in us and how we are made more like Christ.

Why do you think trials are so effective at making us mature and nothing else is so effective?

2 Cor 1:8-9 "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." (emphasis added)

2 Cor 12: 7 "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

And that is how James can start off by writing: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds." He knew what Paul knew -- the reason for trials and suffering is to make us mature disciples and to bear witness to the glory of God. By removing our strength, our talents and abilities, and our performance from the equation, God's Grace and power becomes the focal point to us and to those around us.

Lesson Two: Facing Trials, pt2

By Doris G.

If you lack wisdom, ask God and He will give generously. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt. James 1:5&6
James wrote of the early Christians who were facing trials which tested their faith in God to meet their needs.

Key Words: Lack… Ask…Don’t Doubt….Wisdom….

Lacks – means to be destitute or fall short; a shortage of resources.


ASK – in this verse from James …it is in the present active imperative implying that we should “keep on asking”…persevere
We are to ask for wisdom as Solomon asked…….Prov. 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”

Ask -
Ask for an inner calm to wait for the unfolding of perception from the problem …which would otherwise be a potential for doubt.

Doubt makes God our enemy rather than our friend.

Doubt is a sign that we need a deeper experience of who God is and how he works in our lives and what he is ready to teach us.

God is ready to turn our doubts into wisdom. Our doubt is our human response. God can take our struggle with doubt and give us faith to ask for wisdom and trust our situations to God
Trials of life….. wear us down…..sap our energy

_______PROBLEMS_____ _______Realization of God’s power____
VALLEY OF
DOUBT

THE CURE for doubt about God is the WISDOM OF GOD ..found in The Bible.

Wisdom is God’s intelligence entrusted to us, providing supernatural knowledge, discernment and insight………..Wisdom is an antidote to doubt.

We need to grow in our understanding of and reliance on God’s providential care.

Current Sermon Series on James

How Convenient! One of my favorite theologians, Dr. Kim Riddlebarger, has just started a series on James. I'm planning to follow his teaching and will be posting links to each week's sermon audio files on this page as we go forward (assuming, of course, that the women like using the blog). So be sure to check back!

James 1:19-27 "Be Doers, Not Just Hearers, of God's Word">>>

James 1:1-18 "Ask in Faith">>>

James 2:1-13 "Transgressor of the Law">>>

James 2:14-26 "Faith Apart from Works is Dead">>>

Our Mercy Matter

This coming Wednesday (Sept. 17th) we will discuss and choose a Mercy Matter project for our group.
Carolyn, Erin, Donna, Judy, Peggy and Deb are going to be looking into a few of the options we discussed this past week. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to email us. Come prepared with specifics on what we can do to help with that Mercy Matter.

Lesson One: Discussion Questions

Here are a few questions from our first lesson that we will take a look at:

2- What are your first impressions of this book? (for instance, how is it organized - tightly, loosely, unifying theme, without connections between topics...? What is James's tone -- humorous, harsh, friendly, dry, passionate, humble, arrogant, authoritative? How does he seem to feel about his readers and his topics?)

3. Repetition is a clue to the ideas a writer wants to emphasize. What words and ideas does James repeat?

5. How would you describe James's purpose(s) for writing this letter? (Is he teaching doctrine, exhorting someone to action, giving warnings or rebukes, telling them about himself, offering personal comfort or encouragement...?)

6. What phrase or sentence would you use to summarize what James is saying?

Be thinking about any questions that you would like to delve into more deeply. Also, record any areas of your life that you want to work on during the study. Take each one to God in prayer, asking Him to show you His priorities for your application and to give you His strength to become what He desires. If you are convicted by his letter, confess your failings to God right now.

See you all again on Wednesday night. By the grace of God, I pray that I will be much less nervous this week. Oh, and don't forget to pray for your prayer partner. Blessings!

Goals - Let's Go!!

Goals of this Study:
First and foremost: This is OUR study! So, be thinking of what your personal goals are for studying and applying God’s Word. My role is to facilitate and share resources, not to lecture or preach.

That being said, here are the learning goals that I have come up with so far for this study:

• To cultivate Faith that is Real
  
• To more effectively and consistently pray
  
• To become more intentionally “reformissional”
  

This week:
Read through JAMES at least one time to get the overall theme.

Review Our Study Verses: James 1:1-18
We will start with questions from Chapter 2 of the study guide called “Facing Trials.”

Consider joining this blog as an author or just post your responses, comments, and questions here.

Finally, as you go through your week, if you find an article in the paper or on the internet that goes along with what we are studying – Bring it in! Or post it on this blog. We love to make this relevant.

Orphans in America

Dr. Anthony Bradley:

"America has nearly 115,000 orphaned kids in foster care waiting to be adopted. Some wonder how this is possible in a country with Christian families. Surely, there are 115,000 missional families in America, right? Missional families, for example, embrace the redemptive mission of God and practice "true religion" in their local communities (James 1:27)."

Read the rest of his post and feel free to submit your comments for discussion here.